From 10 to 22:12, after 12 banks entered the market, what changes will the digital renminbi ecosystem experience?

Written by: RWA Research Institute

On April 2, 2026, the website of the People’s Bank of China published a notice: 12 additional banks have been added as digital yuan business operating institutions, and they have been connected to the central bank’s digital yuan system. After the announcement was issued, the number of digital yuan business operating institutions increased from 10 to 22. What appears to be just an official bulletin actually hides a key turning point in how China’s legally issued digital currency is moving toward large-scale adoption.

Twelve banks, thousands of engineers, investment on the order of hundreds of millions in systems— a silent transformation of digital finance is quietly taking place in the server rooms and back-end code under system development.

Let’s move the timeline back to a little more than two months ago. On January 1, 2026, the next-generation digital yuan measurement framework, management system, operating mechanism, and ecosystem were officially launched and implemented. In an article, Lu Lei, vice governor of the People’s Bank of China, pointed out that, according to institutional arrangements, digital yuan in customers’ wallets at commercial banks is, on an account basis, a liability of commercial banks, signaling that the digital yuan has moved from the cash-based 1.0 version to the deposit-money-based digital yuan 2.0 version. The change in wording from “digital cash” to “digital deposit money,” involving just four characters, means that the legal and economic attributes of the digital yuan have undergone a substantive shift.

The digital yuan train has entered 2.0 from 1.0, and now the tracks are being extended to more banks.

I. From “digital cash” to “digital deposit money”:

A complete reshaping of identity

To understand the significance of this expansion, first we need to understand the complete reshaping of identity brought by the digital yuan 2.0 version.

The development of the digital yuan can be traced back to 2014. During more than a decade of pilot exploration, the digital yuan was positioned as “digital cash” (M 0), with no interest paid. Theoretically, this positioning was rigorous, but in practice it led to two notable problems: users lacked willingness to hold it because holding cash yielded no returns; and banks had severely insufficient incentives to promote it, because promoting the digital yuan effectively “pushed out” deposits from a bank’s balance sheet—banks poured in large amounts of manpower and resources, yet could not obtain economic returns from it.

In December 2025, the People’s Bank of China issued the Action Plan for Further Strengthening the Digital Yuan Management and Service System and the Construction of Related Financial Infrastructure (hereinafter referred to as the “Action Plan”). It clarified, at the level of mechanisms, that digital yuan would move from the era of digital cash to the era of digital deposit money. According to the “Action Plan,” bank institutions can pay interest on the balances of customers’ real-name digital yuan wallets and comply with self-disciplinary agreements on deposit interest rate pricing. At the same time, banks can independently conduct asset-liability management and operation for digital yuan wallet balances; and deposit insurance, in accordance with law, provides security equal to that of deposits.

What does this mean? When the digital yuan starts earning interest, it is no longer just “loose change” in a phone wallet, but a deposit in the true sense of the word. From the user’s perspective, holding digital yuan now has a profit incentive; from the bank’s perspective, digital yuan deposit becomes a source of funds the bank can use, and the intrinsic motivation for commercial promotion will be significantly strengthened.

This is a fundamental institutional change. The digital yuan has upgraded from a mere payment instrument to a form of currency that can earn interest, be managed, and be incorporated into the financial safety net—beginning to be institutionally embedded in the banking system and the currency and finance structure. This arrangement both drives innovation and development of the digital yuan and effectively prevents potential financial risks, demonstrating a prudent approach to currency governance.

II. A commitment from ten years ago, delivered ten years later

This expansion is not a sudden policy surprise. As early as October 27, 2025, at the 2025 Financial Street Forum Annual Meeting, Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, had already sent a clear signal: the People’s Bank of China would further optimize the management system for the digital yuan, study and optimize its positioning within the currency hierarchy, and support more commercial banks to become digital yuan business operating institutions.

The signal was still fresh in everyone’s ears—six months later, 12 banks officially “entered the scene.”

From the initial 10 to the current 22, the number reflects the institutional evolution of the digital yuan’s dual-layer operating system. According to reports, there were previously 10 domestically designated operating institutions for digital yuan. In addition to six state-owned big banks (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China), there were two joint-stock banks—China Merchants Bank and Industrial Bank—as well as two internet banks, WeBank and MYbank. The 12 additional banks added this time—China CITIC Bank, Everbright Bank, Huaxia Bank, Minsheng Bank, 广发 Bank, Pudong Development Bank, Zheshang Bank, Ningbo Bank, Jiangsu Bank, Beijing Bank, Nanjing Bank, and Suzhou Bank—cover 7 national-level joint-stock banks and 5 leading urban commercial banks.

It is worth noting that among the 12 newly added institutions, 5 are all institutions in Beijing: China CITIC Bank, Everbright Bank, Huaxia Bank, Minsheng Bank, and Beijing Bank. A relevant person in charge from the Beijing Municipal Office of Financial Affairs said that, next, with guidance and support from the People’s Bank of China, Beijing will coordinate to advance system construction for the newly added operating institutions and develop digital yuan scenarios, continue to support the construction of digital yuan operation and management centers, and continuously enrich the digital yuan ecosystem.

From “led by national teams” to “co-building diversely,” this is not only an expansion of the digital yuan’s ecosystem radius, but also a clear declaration of the direction of market-oriented reform.

III. The “last mile” of the dual-layer architecture

As of the end of November 2025, the digital yuan had cumulatively processed 3.48 billion transactions, with a cumulative transaction amount of 16.7 trillion yuan. It had opened 230 million individual wallets through the digital yuan App, and 18.84 million unit wallets had been opened. Placed in the context of global central bank digital currency projects, these numbers undoubtedly show a leading momentum. But the other side of the coin is that under coverage by 10 operating institutions, the digital yuan’s reach has never truly descended to local government affairs, settlement by small and medium-sized enterprises, and other “capillaries” such as inclusive finance.

Industry insiders believe that the current push for expansion is mainly to rationalize the dual-layer operating system, bring in more joint-stock banks and city commercial banks, and address issues such as an insufficient number of participating entities and inadequate promotional momentum in the past. Dong Hmiao, chief economist at Zhaolian, analyzed that, since the digital yuan adopts a “central bank—operating institution” dual-layer architecture, previously only a small number of institutions served as operating institutions. Bringing certain joint-stock commercial banks and leading city commercial banks into the operating set is timely and necessary.

Joint-stock banks and city commercial banks have large customer bases, local government cooperation resources, and differentiated service capabilities. Their inclusion helps improve the digital yuan’s dual-layer operating architecture and form a richer ecosystem and service capabilities. Some experts believe that, from the perspective of financial structure, if joint-stock banks and city commercial banks become deeply involved, the digital yuan issuance layer would be extended from state-owned big banks to a broader network of smaller and medium-sized banks. This is favorable for building a multi-tier liquidity distribution and exchange system, significantly enhancing the inclusiveness and resilience of the payment system.

This is like a city’s transportation network: subway trunk lines handle high-speed travel, while buses and community shuttles deliver passengers to the last mile. Previously, the operating institutions for the digital yuan were concentrated in state-owned big banks and two internet banks, which is equivalent to having only “trunk lines.” Now, the addition of 12 new members is like laying those “capillaries” that lead into neighborhoods and side streets. With only trunk lines, digital yuan will always be on the road; with capillaries, it can truly enter people’s wallets and daily lives.

IV. After entering the game: One side of opportunity is challenges

The news of expansion is encouraging, but being added to the operating institutions list does not mean that business can be launched immediately. The People’s Bank of China has made it clear that the newly added institutions will carry out digital yuan business after completing business and technical preparations.

This sentence carries significant weight. For the 12 newly shortlisted banks, this means completing a series of end-to-end construction tasks, including system R&D, joint debugging tests, acceptance and commissioning, and onboarding for front-end users. More importantly, the core change in the 2.0 phase is that wallet balances are brought into on-balance-sheet liability management for banks. The digital yuan system needs to move down from the traditional “channel integration layer” to the “asset-liability management layer,” and it is not simply a matter of building a new system.

Developing digital yuan business is, for operating institutions, an across-the-board upgrade involving technical capabilities, business models, and organizational coordination. In the short term, it is about system connection and scenario development; in the mid term, ecosystem operations and value conversion; and in the long term, it is a strategic layout that deeply integrates with digital financial infrastructure. Commercial banks need to advance systematically across layers such as strategic understanding, capacity building, deepening scenario development, and organizational transformation.

The promotion of the digital yuan has undergone a shift from “mandatory promotion” to “endogenous driving.” Previously, some experts pointed out that promoting digital yuan to customers would not only reduce users’ deposits at banks, but would also require large expenditures of capital and manpower costs, leading commercial banks to lack intrinsic economic incentives. After the digital yuan’s定位 changed from M 0 in the 2.0 era, some prior policy bottlenecks can be broken, releasing more potential on the supply side, and allowing for more innovative exploration in areas such as corporate services and cross-border payments. This also provides broader room for business imagination for the newly added operating institutions.

For banks, having additional operating qualifications and actual business revenue opportunities will noticeably increase their enthusiasm. For the overall development of the digital yuan, expansion can greatly enlarge the service coverage, accelerate the transition from pilots to normalized adoption, and lay an important foundation for improving the ecosystem and scaling up applications.

V. Fair competition and a thriving ecosystem

In its announcement, the central bank clearly stated that it will orderly advance the expansion of operating institutions according to market-oriented and rule-of-law principles, further stimulating the initiative and creativity of market participants, and build a digital yuan development environment that is open and inclusive with fair competition.

These words are worth careful consideration. “Market-oriented and rule-of-law-based” and “open and inclusive, fair competition”—these phrases indicate that digital yuan development is moving from the “pilot-driven” stage into the “institutional building” stage. In the future, expansion of operating institutions will not be a one-time action, but a continuous process. The central bank will evaluate institutions based on their risk management level, technological strength, and retail business capabilities, among other factors. This means that more banks that meet the requirements may join in the future, and the openness of the digital yuan ecosystem will continue to improve.

When competition among operating institutions shifts from “pilot compliance” to “scenario competition,” the breadth of scenario coverage and the quality of user service experience will become the key to differentiated competition. The process of moving digital yuan from “available” to “useful, loved, and frequently used” will accelerate as more participants join.

In broader areas such as smart contracts, cross-border payments, and corporate settlement, the imagination space for the digital yuan is being opened up. Smart contracts will first achieve “end-to-end penetrative” applications in scenarios with high demands for trust and automation—such as pre-funded account supervision, fiscal subsidies, and supply chain finance—forming a replicable business closed loop. In cross-border payments, relying on the multilateral central bank digital currency bridge, the digital yuan is expected to enable point-to-point, low-cost, real-time settlement in trade settlement. The multilateral central bank digital currency bridge has cumulatively handled 4,047 cross-border payment transactions, with a cumulative transaction amount equivalent to 387.2 billion yuan. Among transactions in each currency, the share of digital yuan is approximately 95.3%.

From 10 to 22—on the surface, it’s just a change in numbers, but behind it lies a qualitative shift in the digital yuan’s dual-layer operating architecture from institutional design to ecosystem implementation. As Dong Hmiao said, “This is a specific measure to implement the ‘15th Five-Year Plan Outline’ deployment on ‘steady development of the digital yuan,’ which will further enhance the inclusiveness of digital yuan services.”

After 22, what we expect is not only growth in numbers. When more banks change from “observers” into “participants,” the digital yuan can truly move from the top-level blueprint into people’s pockets.

This is only a start.